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McCrory says talks with NBA on HB2 sabotaged

The Charlotte Observer last week quoted Gov. Pat McCrory as saying he and legislative leaders had negotiated an oral agreement with the NBA earlier this year on changes to HB2 to keep the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte.

McCrory says talks with NBA on HB2 sabotaged

This sign was one of several displayed during an April demonstration backing HB2 in Raleigh.(Photo: Mark Barrett/mbarrett@citizen-times.com)

The Charlotte Observer last week quoted Gov. Pat McCrory as saying he and legislative leaders had negotiated an oral agreement with the NBA earlier this year on changes to HB2 to keep the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte.

But, McCrory said, the deal was “later sabotaged” by Republican legislators he did not name who leaked the deal. The governor also said pressure from his general election opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper, and the Human Rights Campaign helped kill the deal. Cooper and the pro-LGBT group support full repeal of HB2.

It’s not clear just what would have been in the deal. McCrory and a source close to the situation the Observer did not name described the possible agreement differently. The source said it would be an overstatement to say that there even was an actual agreement.

McCrory described provisions to set up a commission to look at discrimination in the state and make two changes to HB2 dealing with the ability to sue for other types of discrimination in state courts and state and federal definitions of discrimination. A draft of the bill leaked during the recent session of the General Assembly had some provisions McCrory did not mention.

But by all accounts, the main thrust of HB2 — requiring people to use the restroom matching the gender listed on their birth certificate — would have remained intact.

There were also negotiations over HB2 between legislative leaders and Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts during this year's short session of the General Assembly, according to several media accounts at the time.

A Cooper spokesman told the Observer McCrory’s charges against Cooper are “absurd” and the governor “is pointing fingers instead of taking responsibility for the consequences of his actions.”

North Carolina voters will be hearing similar arguments over HB2 up until Election Day.

Republicans want to pin blame for the law and its economic impacts on Cooper, groups opposing the law and encouraging companies to avoid the state, and Charlotte City Council, which passed a non-discrimination ordinance that HB2 invalidated. Democrats respond that the legislature passed HB2 and McCrory signed it.